The snow was freshly fallen. The air was still within old oaks.
“Focus. Hold your breath. Make sure you line up your shot.” The man spoke out.
The young boy no older than ten was holding the wooden bow in his hands. An arrow was pulled back against the string. Line up against a hare that was down the way.
“Fire.” The father whispered.
The arrow was let loose impacting the hare. The two quickly ran up to the small creature. The father handed the young boy a knife. He looked up at his father with a small frown. “You have to finish what you started my boy. Remember the earth gives what we need. We will pray for this hare and thank Gaia for giving us what we need.” The man repeated placing his warm hand upon the boy's head ruffling his hair.
The boy nodded, taking the knife ending the hares life with a single slash as his father had taught him. The father took the hare over his shoulder walking through the path to home in the woods. “When we get home mom will make some stew out of this. She is going to be so proud of you.” He said smiling down at his son.
The forest was calm as it had been every day him and his father walked it. Something caught the young boy’s eye. He stopped upon the path that overlooked the rest of the snowy forest. Their family lived just outside the village he called home. His father was a local huntsman. Sometimes they all go into the village together.
Father, mother and...his sister. “Papa…..What’s that smoke?” The young boy asked pointing towards the smog that was climbing over the treetops. Black smoke pouring outward into the snow beginning to turn treetops grey.
The father looked on in horror. He quickly raced to his son. Sweeping him off his feet picking him up as he carried him up the mountain path with haste. He remembered seeing his father's expression. It was the first time he had ever seen worry on his father’s brow. Even during the worst of snow storms his father always had smile on his face...not now.
Father stopped himself right before the path ended. He could still remember the sight so clearly even after all these years. The flames of his childhood home roaring behind silhouettes of people he didn’t know. Men and women in golden armor with spears and swords in hand. Yet what stood out the child the most was….the woman standing in the center.
White armor with golden trim, gem encrusted across different parts of it. Her hair flowed by itself. Flowing down her back tied in braids for combat. It was...every color. A rainbow of colors. Her eyes are what imprinted upon his eyes the most. A rosy color. They were warm yet as cold as the snow around her. They focused...driven by something that this person desired. She had white horn upon her head that poked out of the center of a golden crown.
His father placed him upon the ground behind a tree. Placing both hands on his son’s shoulder. “You have to listen to me! I mean it. Every word. Wait for me here. If...if I don’t come back. Hide in the woods. Papa loves you very much...so does mama...I am going to get her from the house.” He ordered.
The boy began to cry sniffling. “...I am scared….”
“You have to be strong. Maxima...you will do great things one day. Remember I am always with you. Be brave my son.” He said with a kiss to his son’s forehead.
That was the last time he spoke to his father.
His father charged forward from the woods drawing his blade. The swiftness of his moves was too much for surprised force. He sliced throats with one swing. Moving through the crowd towards the woman in the center. The boy watched on behind the tree. His father swung downwards with his blade.
His blade was met with her own parrying his sword with ease. Slashes of skill launched both upward and downward towards her were unleashed next. Each one was parry by her pale longsword she held downward. His father was so fast and yet….this woman took no effort to block him.
Finally her horn began to glow as his father combust into flames suddenly. She sent a kick into his gut knocking him to the ground before pointing the tip of her blade at his throat. The boy couldn’t hear what was going on. They were talking. She asked something of his father he knew that much...his father seemed to only reply, with a spitting growl towards her.
She stabbed him.
Through the heart, the young boy lost all sense of reason in that moment racing out of the woods calling for his father as tears streamed down his face. His vision only focused on the dying man coughing up crimson on the bleached snow.
“FATHER!!” He screamed as guards swarmed him. Pinning him to the ground. He struggled against them but, he was just a boy. He tried to bite at their hands. Anything to get to his father until...he saw the man lying still in the snow and the woman wiping his blood from her blade in the snow.
She began to speak with one guard who asked what should be done with the boy. She walked over to the boy. Their eyes locked for the first time. Her pinks eyes with his green ones. There was rage and life pumping behind those green eyes of his. Perhaps that is what caused her to spare him.
“Take him with us...give him to the colosseum master. He’s still got some fire in his eyes...let’s put it to good use.” She spoke aloud. Before walking by the boy. One of the guards with one swift kick knocked the young boy out cold.
This was the beginning of his story…..
And Story of….
The Empire of Equestria
Author's Note
I would love some comments and feedback on this. This just prologue. I really liked this fanart I saw. So please Enjoy this work and tell me what you feel about it.
